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Gamera (franchise)
|producedby= |writtenby= |musicby= |notableseries=Showa era Heisei era |filmcount=13 |status=Hiatus |website= |firstfilm=''Gamera: The Giant Monster'' |latestfilm=''Gamera'' |upcomingfilm= }} Gamera is a series of giant monster films and other licensed products featuring the character Gamera, owned by the Kadokawa Corporation. Starting in 1965, the Gamera series remains one of the longest-running film series. The Gamera series initially began as an attempt by Daiei Motion Picture Company to capitalize on the success of rival studio Toho Company Ltd.'s successful films of the time, most notably the ''Godzilla'' series. The first Gamera film, Gamera, was released to Japanese theaters on November 27, 1965. The film was a success, inspiring Daiei to not only produce a sequel, but also the acclaimed Daimajin trilogy of films. Gamera was released on television in the United States a year later as an edited version titled Gammera, the Invincible. Like the Godzilla series before it, the Gamera series went on to include numerous other entries, all featuring the titular Gamera battling against other, more malevolent creatures. The Gamera series attempted to aim itself more towards child audiences, often featuring children as the main characters. The Godzilla series even attempted to emulate this with its films in the late 1960s and early 70s. After Daiei went bankrupt in the early 70s, the Gamera series was placed on hiatus and, aside from a failed revival film in 1980, another entry was not produced until the series' 30th anniversary in 1995. The new film, Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, was distributed by Daiei's former rival Toho and proved to be a huge critical and financial success, inspiring two critically-acclaimed sequels. In the early 2000s, Daiei was acquired by the Kadokawa Corporation and absorbed by the company's filmmaking branch. Kadokawa finally released its first Gamera film, Gamera: The Brave, in 2006 to celebrate the franchise's 40th anniversary. Kadokawa has since released many of the Gamera films on home video and produced remastered versions of a few entries, and a short film commemorating the 50th anniversary of the franchise was released in 2015. While the Gamera series began as a cash-in on the popularity of the Godzilla franchise, it has since developed its own identity and become a popular and respected film series in its own right. Gamera, while not quite as popular as his counterpart Godzilla, is still a recognizable pop culture icon in Japan and around the world. The 1990s Gamera trilogy directed by Shusuke Kaneko is widely recognized as the finest example of giant monster films ever produced. Many crew who worked on the trilogy would go on to work on the Godzilla series as well. History The Gamera series consists of 12 films, 11 of them produced by the defunct Daiei Motion Picture Company and one produced by its successor, Kadokawa Daiei Studio. Like the Godzilla series, the Gamera series is divided into distinct eras, however unlike the Godzilla series the Gamera series consists of only two: the Showa and Heisei series. The first eight entries make up the Showa series, while the last four are considered to comprise the Heisei series. The Showa films are often categorized by their campy, child-friendly nature while the later Heisei films are seen as much more serious and mature in nature. Showa era (1965-1980) The first series of Gamera films is named after the Showa period of Japan, referring to the reign of the Showa emperor, Hirohito. The Showa series began in 1965 with the release of the black-and-white film, Gamera. This film is distinct from all of those that followed it in that it is the only one filmed in black-and-white as well as the only one to portray Gamera as a villain and not feature him battling another monster. Gamera was inspired by the popular Godzilla films, most prominently the [[Godzilla (1954 film)|original Godzilla]], telling the story of an ancient giant reptile being awakened by a nuclear bomb and laying waste to Tokyo. Following the film's success, a sequel was greenlit by the studio. Like what had occurred with the Godzilla series, Daiei chose to film the sequel in color and have Gamera do battle with another creature. The creature chosen was the giant lizard monster Barugon, which was Gamera's opponent in the film, Gamera vs. Barugon. This film was followed a year later by Gamera vs. Gyaos, which introduced Gamera's arch-nemesis, the flying creature Gyaos, and also featured a child protagonist who assists Gamera. Gamera vs. Gyaos set the formula for the remaining Showa films, which all revolved around a heroic Gamera collaborating with human children to defeat other monsters and oftentimes alien invaders. The Gamera films were notable for featuring a great deal of graphic violence and gore in its monster battles, while the Godzilla films of the time often refrained from showing the creatures bleed. As the Gamera films proved incredibly popular with child audiences, the Godzilla films of the early 1970s found themselves emulating them by featuring increased blood and gore and the appearance of child protagonists. As the Japanese film industry declined in the late 60s and early 70s, Daiei found itself relying heavily on the use of stock footage from previous entries. The company planned to produce several more Gamera films following the release of Gamera vs. Zigra in 1971, but just as production began on the film Gamera vs. Garasharp, the studio went bankrupt and a fire destroyed all of the remaining suits and props. Daiei was eventually purchased by Tokuma Shoten, who planned to revive the Gamera series with a new film while the Godzilla series remained on hiatus. The newest Gamera film, Gamera: Super Monster, was released in 1980, nine years after the previous film, and was primarily composed of stock footage from the previous films. Super Monster also featured obvious attempts to capitalize on the popular Superman and Star Wars films of the time, seen through the Spacewomen and Spaceship Zanon. Super Monster was a critical and financial failure, and convinced Daiei and Tokuma to put the series on hold once again. In the meantime, most of the Gamera films were dubbed and released by Sandy Frank in the United States on television and home video, leading to a growth in the series' popularity outside of Japan. Several of the movies were even featured on the movie-mocking show Mystery Science Theater 3000 in the early 1990s. Heisei era (1995-2006) Gamera trilogy (1995-1999) In 1995, Daiei began production on a new film to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Gamera series. Daiei turned to its former rival Toho to distribute the film, and hired little-known director Shusuke Kaneko to direct. It was decided to begin the series anew and ignore the previous entries, discarding the kid-friendly tone of the later Showa films in favor of a darker and more serious style, akin to what the Godzilla series had done with The Return of Godzilla. The resulting film, Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, was a huge success with critics and audiences, even earning a theatrical release in the United States. Famed film critic Roger Ebert, who had long given negative reviews to films, gave the film three out of four stars, praising it for being "fun." Daiei immediately began production on a sequel, Gamera 2: Attack of Legion, which was released in 1996. The sequel was even more well-received than its predecessor, making use of higher production values. A third entry, Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris, was released in 1999, and despite disappointing box office returns was praised by many as the greatest giant monster film ever made, rivaling the original Godzilla. ''Gamera: The Brave'' (2006) Daiei was later purchased by the Kadokawa Corporation in the early 2000s and merged with the company's filmmaking branch. As the series' 40th anniversary approached, Kadokawa decided to produce a new film for 2006. The film, Gamera: The Brave, was a reboot from Kaneko's trilogy that re-adopted some of the kid-friendly tones of the Showa series while still maintaining the seriousness and production values of the trilogy. Gamera: the Brave was a box office failure despite being well-received, inspiring Kadokawa to put the series on indefinite hiatus. In the meantime, Kadokawa began releasing the previous entries on DVD and Blu-ray in Japan, while extending the Gamera license to other companies who began making Gamera merchandise. While Gamera: The Brave is not connected to the Gamera trilogy in terms of continuity, it is still grouped in with it as part of the Heisei series, due to it being released during the political Heisei period in Japan. Contrary to popular belief, Gamera: The Brave is not part of the Millennium series, a term that only applies to Godzilla films released from 1999 to 2004. ''Gamera'' short film In anticipation of Gamera's 50th anniversary, Kadokawa announced production of a new film in 2014. No new information about the production materialized until late 2015, where a panel of Kadokawa representatives appeared at New York Comic-Con. There, they unveiled test footage for a new Gamera film, featuring Gamera, Gyaos and a new tentacled creature all rendered through . Kadokawa revealed that a new film was in production at the time, with Katsuhito Ishii directing. Three years following this film's announcement, no further information has arisen for the film, with the trailer released in 2015 acting more as a proof of concept, over an advertisement. Films by series The following is a list of all official entries in the Gamera franchise, grouped according to series and including the year of release. Showa era *''Gamera'' (1965) *''Gamera vs. Barugon'' (1966) *''Gamera vs. Gyaos'' (1967) *''Gamera vs. Viras'' (1968) *''Gamera vs. Guiron'' (1969) *''Gamera vs. Jiger'' (1970) *''Gamera vs. Zigra'' (1971) *''Gamera: Super Monster'' (1980) Heisei era *''Gamera: Guardian of the Universe'' (1995) *''Gamera 2: Attack of Legion'' (1996) *''Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris'' (1999) *''Gamera: The Brave'' (2006) *''Gamera'' (2015) Unmade films Aside from the 12 official entries in the Gamera series, numerous films were planned but never saw production. ''Gamera vs. The Ice Men Daiei's original plan for a sequel to the original ''Gamera featured Gamera doing battle with a race of ice-based aliens attempting to take over the Earth. The film's climactic battle would have Gamera taking on the aliens' ultimate weapon, the Ice Giant. Daiei decided to make Gamera's opponent to be a non-humanoid reptilian creature instead, but retained the Ice Giant's cold-based abilities. The Ice Giant was heavily altered to form the basis of the stone giant Daimajin from Daiei's successful Daimajin trilogy of films. ''Gamera vs. Wyvern Following ''Gamera vs. Zigra, Daiei began production on the next Gamera film. The film, Gamera vs. Wyvern, pitted Gamera against a giant two-headed fire-breathing dragon called Wyvern, which appeared to be loosely based on the Godzilla monster King Ghidorah. Ultimately, this film was reworked into Gamera vs. Garasharp. ''Gamera vs. Garasharp Daiei reworked the script for ''Gamera vs. Wyvern into Gamera vs. Garasharp, replacing the two-headed dragon Wyvern with a giant snake called Garasharp. Gamera would fight and kill Garasharp, only for the creature's offspring to emerge from their mother's corpse. Gamera would then remove the horns and fangs from the baby Garasharps and relocate them to an isolated island. This film also featured another new monster called Marukobukarappa, whose role in the film was unknown. A script and several storyboards were completed for the film, as well as the monsters suits and sets. When Daiei went bankrupt, the film was discarded and its fate was sealed forever when a fire destroyed the studio. 'Daiei Destroy All Monsters' A Japanese book about Daiei's fantasy films provided a synopsis for an unmade Gamera film which was much more ambitious than any film previously attempted in the series. This unnamed film was similar to 's Destroy All Monsters, featuring a huge cast of giant monsters from the previous films coming together to battle an alien invasion. According to the synopsis given in the book, the film's plot revolved around two alien races, the Zigrans and Virasians, joining forces to invade Earth. Using Gamera's DNA, the aliens engineer the two-headed dragon Wyvern to battle Gamera, and also take control of a flock of Space Gyaos. After being seemingly killed by Wyvern, Gamera is revived by a benevolent alien race, along with Gyaos, Barugon, Jiger and a giant whale god (sometimes speculated to be Kujira Gami). The Earth monsters then all join forces against the alien invaders and their monsters. Details about this film are scarce, and it is unknown if it was actually planned by Daiei or just the speculation of the author of the book. It is also uncertain whether this film was meant to be Gamera vs. Wyvern or an entirely separate project simply reusing the Wyvern monster from the aforementioned film. Whatever the case, any plans for this film or others like it were abandoned after Daiei filed for bankruptcy and the studio was destroyed in a fire.Nezura Beasts and Garasharp: The Aborted Monster Movies of Daiei Studios - Cool Ass Cinema ''Gamera vs. Phoenix Daiei's original vision for Gamera's 30th anniversary revival film was titled ''Gamera vs. Phoenix, and involved Gamera battling a giant phoenix. When Daiei brought Shusuke Kaneko on board as the director, he discarded the screenplay and chose to revive one of Gamera's old opponents for the new film, which was ultimately decided to be Gyaos. Rather than completely ignore the Gamera vs. Phoenix screenplay, Daiei published it as a novel. ''Godzilla vs. Gamera During production of the Gamera trilogy, Daiei's executives mused at the idea of a film pitting Gamera against Godzilla. The two famous had already clashed in a live stage show in 1970 and had been featured in numerous informational books and magazines together. Following Daiei's acquisition by Kadokawa, Kadokawa approached in 2002 and proposed a ''Godzilla vs. Gamera film. Toho rejected the offer for unknown reasons,http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2006/03/01/gamera-the-brave/ though it was rumored to be due to disagreements over which monster would emerge the victor.needed ''Gamera 3D'' Following the abandonment of Godzilla 3D to the MAX in exchange for Legendary Pictures' Godzilla, Yoshimitsu Banno, the unmade film's producer, turned his eyes to a Gamera project. Banno repackaged to screenplay for Godzilla 3D into Gamera 3D, featuring Gamera battling a pollution-based monster called "Gaira" (no relation to the Green Gargantua), which transforms into the more powerful Namagon. Gamera would then team up with the mythical creature Son Gokuu and defeat Namagon. Like Godzilla 3D, this was intended to be a 40-minute short IMAX film to be produced by Banno's independent company Advanced Audiovisual Productions. This idea was discarded in favor of another film featuring Hedorah battling a green algae-based called Midora, on which Banno was still actively working on at the time. Monsters Every entry in the Gamera series since the original Gamera has featured at least one other monster doing battle with Gamera. The following is a list of all monsters that have appeared in a Gamera film. *'Gamera' - The primary monster of the franchise, Gamera made his debut in the film Gamera in 1965. Gamera is a giant bipedal turtle capable of flying and breathing fire. While Gamera was a villain in his debut film, he has developed into a heroic monster that defends humanity from threats and has a special affinity for children. Gamera's origins are connected to the ancient Atlantis civilization in both the Showa and Heisei series. In Gamera, it is only speculated that Gamera lived in Atlantis at some point in the ancient past, while Gamera: Guardian of the Universe establishes that Gamera was actually genetically engineered by the ancient Atlanteans to battle their previous creation, Gyaos, which had gone out of control and destroyed their civilization. *'Barugon' - A giant lizard-like monster, Barugon was Gamera's first opponent, debuting in the 1966 film Gamera vs. Barugon. Barugon began life inside an egg found inside a cave in New Guinea. A thief took the egg back to Japan, believing it was an opal, only for it to be placed under an infrared lamp and hatch into a huge monster. Barugon terrorized Japan and attacked Osaka, where he was engaged by Gamera. Gamera later defeated Barugon by drowning him in the ocean. Barugon has very unusual abilities, he can fire a deadly rainbow from the spikes on his back and extend his tongue and fire an icy mist from it. Barugon's only weakness was water, which allowed Gamera to defeat him. *'Gyaos' - Gyaos is a giant flying creature which resembles a cross between a pterosaur and a vampire bat. Gyaos made its first appearance in the film Gamera vs. Gyaos in 1967, and since has become Gamera's arch-nemesis and his most famous enemy. In the Showa series, Gyaos was discovered inside a cave, then flew out of it and began feeding on humans and livestock. Gamera appeared and fought Gyaos, eventually defeating it by drowning it in a volcano. A group of silver Space Gyaos appeared in the film Gamera vs. Guiron, with one of them fighting and being killed by Guiron. Gyaos returned as Gamera's opponent for the series' 1995 reboot to the series, Gamera: Guardian of the Universe. In this film, Gyaos are ancient creatures genetically engineered by the ancient Atlanteans that turned on their creators and wiped them out. Gamera was created as a last-ditch measure to defeat the Gyaos. Gyaos appears in the third entry of the Heisei trilogy, Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris in a new evolved form called Hyper Gyaos. The antagonist of the film, Iris, is also implied to be related to Gyaos somehow. A flock of Gyaos appears in the opening of the film Gamera: The Brave, where Gamera self-destructs in order to kill them. Gyaos is also featured in the test footage for Kadokawa's upcoming Gamera film. *'Viras' - Viras is a giant alien squid creature that appears in the 1968 film Gamera vs. Viras. Viras is actually the result of several smaller aliens, the Virasians, joining together into a single entity. The Virasians invaded Earth and tried to control Gamera and force him to wipe out human civilization, but the mind control was severed by a group of children. The Virasians then combined into Viras to defeat Gamera. Gamera eventually destroyed Viras by freezing him in the upper atmosphere and dropping him into the ocean below, where he exploded. *'Guiron' - Guiron is a giant blade-headed alien beast that guards the planet Terra. Guiron is featured in the 1969 film Gamera vs. Guiron, where he battles a Space Gyaos and later takes on Gamera when he arrives on Terra to save two children from aliens who want to eat their brains. Guiron is defeated by Gamera when Gamera lodges a rocket in the notches on Guiron's head and detonates it with his fire breath. *'Jiger' - Jiger is the villain in the 1970 Gamera film Gamera vs. Jiger. Jiger is a demonic beast from Africa that is drawn to Japan when the statue that summons her is taken from its place in Africa. Jiger invaded Japan and fought Gamera, defeating him by implanting her parasitic offspring inside his body. Gamera was rescued by two children who destroyed the baby Jigers, and he resumed the battle with Jiger. Gamera finally killed Jiger by shoving the statue into Jiger's skull, then brought her corpse to an island. *'Zigra' - Zigra first appeared in the film Gamera vs. Zigra in 1971. Zigra, a giant fish-like alien, hails from a planet where fish feed on people, and came to Earth to take up residence in the planet's oceans and feed on mankind. When Zigra's plans to mind-control humans failed, he emerged from his ship and fought Gamera underwater. Gamera forced Zigra onto land, where he easily defeated it with his fire breath. *'Legion' - The Symbiotic Legion are a race of silicon-based insectoid aliens that are featured in the 1996 film Gamera 2: Attack of Legion. The Legion arrived on Earth in a meteor and began breaking down silicon compounds to feed their propagation device, a giant flower. When Gamera destroyed the flower, the gigantic Mother Legion appeared and flew to Sendai to plant a new flower. Legion defeated Gamera in Sendai, but Gamera intercepted the flower's seed before it could enter outer space, destroying Sendai in the process. When Legion attempted to plant a flower in Tokyo, Gamera returned and killed her with a powerful attack known as the Ultimate Mana Blast when his normal attacks could not harm her. *'Iris' - Iris is the antagonist of the 1999 film Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris, the final entry of the Gamera trilogy. Iris is an ancient creature of unknown origin who was discovered in a shrine by the vengeful Ayana Hirasaka, who blamed Gamera for her parents' deaths. Ayana raised Iris to take revenge for her and kill Gamera. When Iris reached maturity, it broke out of the shrine and exterminated the population of Ayana's village, then pursued Ayana to Kyoto. There, Ayana commanded Iris to kill Gamera, who had followed it there. Iris seemingly killed Gamera, then attempted to forcibly bond itself to Ayana. Gamera saved Ayana and pulled her out of Iris' body, then destroyed Iris at the cost of his own arm. *'Toto' - Toto is a young Gamera that is featured in the 2006 film Gamera: The Brave. Over 30 years after the original Gamera sacrificed himself to kill a flock of Gyaos, a young boy named Toru discovered a baby turtle he named Toto and raised it as a pet. Toru soon learned Toto was a baby Gamera as he grew abnormally large and displayed strange abilities such as flight and fire breath. Toto battled the sea monster Zedus when it attacked Toru's hometown, but was badly injured. Thankfully, Toto recovered and grew to full size then battled Zedus again at Nagoya and killed it. Toto then bid goodbye to Toru and flew away. *'Zedus' - A giant mutated sea lizard, Zedus is the antagonist of the 2006 film Gamera: The Brave. Zedus came ashore in a village and started eating the citizens, only to be attacked by Toto, the young Gamera. Zedus defeated Toto and headed to Nagoya, where the fully-grown Toto attacked him again. This time, Toto overcame Zedus and destroyed him with a fireball. Media Like Godzilla, Gamera has appeared in his fair share of non-film media, including books, comics, toys and video games. Books Gamera, along with many other famous Japanese , was frequently featured in informational books and magazines in the 1970's and 1980's. Notable among these is Godzilla-Gamera Daikaiju, a book featuring super-deformed illustrations of monsters from both the Godzilla and Gamera series drawn by the artist behind Bandai's Godzilland merchandise line. In 1995, the story for the unmade film Gamera vs. Phoenix was published as a novel by Shogakukan. To tie-in with the 30th anniversary film Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, a manga illustrated by Hurricane Ryu Hariken called Manga Boys Special Edition: Gamera was released, featuring Gamera battling all of his enemies from the Showa era along with new monsters based on the unmade monsters Garasharp and Marukobukarappa. Following the success of Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, Dark Horse Comics, publishers of numerous Godzilla comics at the time, published a brief American comic series titled Gamera: The Guardian of the Universe set after the events of the film. This comic featured Gamera battling Gyaos as well as new versions of Viras and Zigra. In 2002, Kadokawa published a manga adaptation of the film Gamera vs. Barugon, adapting it into the continuity of the Gamera trilogy and setting it between the events of Gamera 2: Attack of Legion and Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris. A tie-in manga called Gamera 2006: Hard Link was released for the film Gamera: The Brave, taking the form of an anthology telling various different stories connected to the film. Video games Gamera has been featured in numerous video games, many of them developed and published by the company Sammy. A tie-in game for the film Gamera: Guardian of the Universe was released for the Gameboy in 1995, along with a strategy game titled Gamera: Gyaos Destruction Strategy for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. In 1997, Virgin Games released a space shooter-style game called Gamera: 2000 for the PlayStation. In 2009, Sammy developed a Pachinko game titled CR Gamera, which featured computer-generated recreations of Gamera's numerous battles from the films. Oratta released a mobile game titled Gamera: Battle in 2012. To commemorate Gamera's 50th anniversary, he and a few of his monster costars were included as guest characters in the Sega mobile RPG Monster Gear, which also included exclusive costumes and weapons based on them. References Category:Franchises